RUDDERLESS CONGRESS

It is not really clear what the Congress high command wants for the party. The big ‘chintan’ meet turned out to be a bit of a damp squib with no real ideas, or long term vision. In fact, Rahul Gandhi’s interviews and remarks at his meetings in England more recently were more impressive than the chintan shivir in Rajasthan, with the usual homilies and outdated yatras. The party has been steadily losing leaders in the states, which demoralises the workers and does not make for cohesive functioning. Big or small, desertions feed into the perception that the Congress is not able to hold its flock together, is a party on the decline, and cannot be expected to change the future of India. Sonia Gandhi, Rahul and Priyanka work as a family, but not as part of a large party. All are happier working as individuals, or with a few time trusted Family loyalists. Their presence in a state does not bring the Congress party together, and just about galvanises factions and hence, deepens fissures. Strong likes and dislikes continue to dominate party policy, if it at all can be called that, with favourites ruling the roost as it were. The denial of a Rajya Sabha ticket to Pawan Khera who has been an effective spokesperson for the party is a case in point. As is the decision of Kapil Sibal – a Congressman for 30 years if not more — to quit the party. The Samajwadi Party has embraced him although he remains an Independent face in the Rajya Sabha. The point here is that the 23 Congresspersons who had spoken out in a bid to resuscitate the party have now been placed at a distance, as the Family continues to function with a coterie it trusts and not with the organisation of the Congress. The party, thus, is losing the ability to fight the Bharatiya Janata Party on the ground and revive its stakes in important states like Uttar Pradesh in the north and Karnataka in the south. The over-reliance on the ‘there is no other alternative’ TINA factor is particularly sad given the hyper-active BJP that is fast occupying all available space at the expense of the Congress. The resilience really has come from the regional parties, but then all know better than perhaps the Congress party, that this national catalyst is important for an effective coalition against the BJP. More so as there are at least 200 seats where the political fight is directly between the BJP and the Congress, and to be effective the latter has to revive. So far, Rahul Gandhi is the only one speaking out loud and clear but that his voice is not sufficiently echoed within the Congress party is a sign of his weakness and not strength.

It is unlikely that the Congress will be able to recover lost ground, or at least at the moment there is no sign of this. There is no activity at the ground level… not even in the states that will be going to polls now. Instead the Congress is using its rather meagre resources in a Kashmir to Kanyakumari yatra, old wine in an old bottle really. Front organisations have not been revived, young leaders have left the party, old leaders have been marginalised, and despite the ‘deep thought’ the Congress remains gasping for breath.